French officials say the man was carrying a knife and appeared to be wearing an explosives vest, although it was later found out to be a fake. The incident occurred on the first anniversary of the terrorist assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine.

Officials also say the man was thought to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" before police shot him to death. He has not yet been identified.

Witnesses in Yemen discount Iranian claims that Saudi Arabia staged an overnight airstrike against the Iranian embassy in Sana'a. Iran accused Saudi Arabia of deliberately hitting the outpost. But people in Sana'a say there is no visible damage to the building. They say some stones and shrapnel apparently landed in the embassy's yard after a Saudi airstrike about 700 meters from the embassy.

Also Thursday, Iran's cabinet banned the import of all products from Saudi Arabia. Iran also adopted a ban on Iranians traveling to Mecca.

Bahrain says it arrested members of a terrorist cell plotting to set off explosions across the country. The government described the cell as an armed wing of the Shi'ite fringe opposition group Al Wafab, which Bahrain says has ties to Iran and Hezbollah.

The arrests come amid ongoing protests in Bahrain and across the region over Saudi Arabia's execution Friday of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

According to officials and local news reports, a truck bombing in western Libya has killed at least 50 people and wounded dozens more. The attack came at a police training center. The bomb exploded as hundreds of recruits gathered at the facility in the town of Zliten.

This is VOA News.

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Words in This Newscast

vest– n. a piece of clothing that covers the upper part of the body

fake – n. something that is not real or true; a copy of something

assault– n. an attack

discount– v. to dismiss; to reduce the cost of something

staged– v. to carry out

deliberately– adj. doing something on purpose

outpost– n. an office or station set up far from a capital or headquarters

visible – adj. of or relating to something that can be seen

shrapnel – n. pieces of a bomb, shell or other object thrown out by an explosion

yard– n. grounds

cell– n. the smallest part of something

wing – n. a part of an organization

fringe – adj. of or related to the edge of something

amid– prep. in or into the middle of something

ongoing– adj. continuing

prominent – adj. leading

cleric – n. clergyman

dozens– n. a group of 12 people or things; a larger number of something